Tangier is the furthest Northern tip of Africa, and my final stop. I booked a one-way ticket to Morocco and planned on catching a ferry across Gibraltar to Algeciras and a train home from there.

Africa

Tangier, Algeciras and The Strait of Gibraltar... silly to think it's still a British enclave after all this time.

I decided to spend one night in Tangier so as not to miss my train the next day. I arrived into Tangier in the afternoon. The rain was falling rather hard, but I took a walk around the city after finding a place to stay for the night. Had some couscous for dinner, took a couple of photos in the main plaza when the rain let up. The city wasn’t all that exciting… I can see how at one time it was a place to be, but can’t say I’d go back if I had the chance.

just carryin' a couple pigs through traffic. no big deal.

Sitting at the café where I took this picture, right at this moment, I was eating mediocre couscous. This would absolutely ruin the next 72 hours. Ended up with the worst case of food poisoning I’ve ever experienced, which stayed with me through a sleepless night, a 10 hour slow/stormy ferry ride across the strait the next day, missing my train in Algeciras (another shithole), and a 9 hour overnight bus to Madrid just about did me in. I crashed for 20 hours straight upon arrival.

Tangier's main plaza, just south of the medina.

view of the strait from the top of my hostel

I liked these plants

I had the sense to buy dramamine (huge box for 80 cents? love those Moroccan pharmacies) and a huge bottle of water before the ferry ride. The fast boats weren’t running on this particular day due to the insane weather, so I had to take the slow boat. Unbeknownst to me, these vessels don’t leave until they’re full. Rad. So, I passed out onboard for hours after taking the dramamine only to realize that we hadn’t even left yet. That plus another 5 hours to get across (keep in mind it’s only something like 7 nautical miles!?) This is how I missed my train.

Gibraltar!

Don’t remember much of the ferry ride, so stoked that I had the sense to take these photos.

Spanish waters

Summary: Tangier food poisoning and ferry to Algeciras are decidedly the lowest points in my trip. Still though, it was all absolutely 100% worth it. (just never eating in Tangier again!)

viva: alive

I am native to the Mojave Desert of Southern California and have called San Francisco my home for some time now. In August of 2009 I packed up my life to live, study, and work in Madrid, Spain. All of the photos here are mine.